ABCs of The Interview

ABCS OF THE INTERVIEW
211
ABCs of the Interview: The Role of

Affective, Behavioral, and Cognitive
Responses by Applicants in the
Employment Interview
Angela M. Young and K. Michele Kacmar*
The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of a job applicant's verbal statements on
interviewer ratings of an applicant's interpersonal characteristics. Applicant verbal statements
were coded as containing affective, behavioral, and cognitive components. Verbal statements
were analyzed using regression analysis and findings indicated that behavioral and cognitive
speech components significantly impacted interviewer ratings of an applicant's selfconfidence. In turn, interpersonal characteristics of enthusiasm, self-confidence and
effectiveness had a significant influence on an interviewer's rating of an applicant's overall
quality and the ultimate hiring decision.
are routinely used and relied upon

by organizations for selecting job applicants.
IAs nterviews
a selection tool, interviewing utilizes both
objective and subjective means of evaluating

prospective employees. Objective factors such as
work experience and education are relatively
easy measures by which to compare applicants;
on the other hand, subjective factors such as an
applicant's enthusiasm or self-confidence are
more difficult to assess. However, finding ways
to measure these subjective factors is extremely
important as they can wield extensive influence
in the interview setting (Keenan 1977; Kinicki,
Lockwood, Hom and Griffeth, 1990; Gilmore
and Ferris 1989; Graves and Karren 1992;
Ralston 1989) and can influence even trained,
experienced interviewers.
Much of the research on subjective factors in
the interview process has focused on specific
elements of impression management such as
dress or behavior displayed during the interview
(Arvey and Campion 1982; Gifford, Cheuk and
Wilkinson 1985; Gilmore and Ferris 1989;
Harris, 1989; Kacmar, Delery and Ferris 1992;
Liden, Martin and Parsons 1993). Most research
on verbal behavior and influences of verbal cues
on the interview have centered on patterns,
speed, or frequency of speech (Dipboye 1992;
Harris 1989; Leathers 1979; Ralston 1989;
Riggio and Throckmorton 1988). Little research
has been done, however, on verbal content or
specific types of verbal statements which
influence interviewer impressions of an
Blackwell Publishers Ltd 1998, 108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JF, UK and
350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA.
applicant's suitability for a job (Bradac and

Mulac 1984; Kacmar and Hochwarter 1995;
Tullar, 1989).
The purpose of this paper is to isolate and
examine the verbal behavior exhibited by the job
applicant during the interview. Specifically, we
examined the influence of a job applicant's verbal
statements on interviewer ratings of an
applicant's interpersonal characteristics such as
enthusiasm, initiative, self-confidence, and
effectiveness. In turn, we tested the relationship
between the interviewer's assessment of an
applicant's interpersonal characteristics and the
interviewer's rating of an applicant's overall
In the employment interview setting, no
studies exist which explicity link interviewer
ratings of an applicant with the content and
attitudinal components of an applicant's verbal
behavior. Although there is clear theoretical
support for this linkage, there is no empirical
evidence of such a relationship. Therefore, this
study is a first attempt to categorize and analyze
speech components. Further, because this study
represents an entirely new approach to
examining the verbal behavior in an interview,
a coding method had to be developed. Thus, this
study represents an new means by which to code
verbal behavior as well as an analysis of the
influence of verbal behavior on interviewer
ratings. Despite its exploratory nature, this
study will pinpoint specific verbal behaviors
which are influential in the interview process.
Volume 6
Address for Correspondence:

Angela M. Young, Department
of Management, School of
Business
and
Economics,
California State University,
Los Angeles, 5151 State
University Drive, Los Angeles,
California 90032-8126, Tel:
(213) 343-2896, Fax: (213)
343-6461, E-mail: amyoung4
@juno.com
Number 4
October 1998
212
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SELECTION AND ASSESSMENT
Background and Hypotheses

Development
The employment interview has been shown to
be a complex and multi-faceted process (Eder,
Kacmar and Ferris 1989). Consequently, it is
difficult to study the interview process in its
entirety. Therefore, for the purposes of the
present study, we have isolated a subset of the
interview process for investigation. The model
shown in Figure 1 depicts the portion of the
interview process currently being considered.
As can be seen in Figure 1, we are interested
in how an applicant's verbal statements influence
the ratings made by the interviewer. Our model
indicates that applicants' verbal statements will
have a direct impact on the interviewers' ratings
of the applicants' interpersonal characteristics,
which will in turn, influence the interviewers'
overall rating of the applicant as well as the
hiring decision. In the sections that follow,
theoretical support for the linkages depicted in
Figure 1, starting at the far right of the model
and working left, will be provided. In addition,
specific hypotheses to be tested will be
developed.
Interpersonal Characteristics and Interviewer's
Outcome Decisions
From an interviewer's perspective, the interview
is an opportunity to ascertain an applicant's
potential contribution to the organization
(Fletcher 1990; Kacmar et al. 1992; Liden et al.
1993; Rynes and Gerhart 1990). From a research
perspective, this goal is measured through the
dependent variables. Among the dependent
variables examined in past research, some form
of interviewer assessment such as suitability for
hiring or interviewer rating of performance has

been analyzed (Fletcher 1990; Kristof and
Stevens 1994; Macan and Dipboye 1990; Raza
and Carpenter 1987; Tullar 1989). A multitude of
independent variables have been examined in
relation to the interviewer's rating of an
applicant such as applicant appearance and social
behaviors (Riggio and Throckmorton 1988),
enthusiasm and self-assurance (Fletcher 1990),
and self-esteem (Liden et al. 1993).
Past studies have indicated that an assessment
of an applicant's personal characteristics
influences an interviewer's ratings of an applicant
and the ultimate hiring decision. Further, the
characteristics examined in previous research
have been proven to lend themselves to an
interviewer's prediction or attitude about the
future performance of an applicant. For example,
an applicant who exhibits self-assurance or
enthusiasm, as exhibited in verbal and nonverbal behavior during the interview, is likely to
convince the interviewer that successful,
proactive work habits will ensue and the
applicant will make a strong contribution to
the organization (Fletcher 1990).
Given these previously examined variables and
the findings reported, four interpersonal characteristics were included in this study. For the
purpose of this research, an interviewer's rating of
an applicant's interpersonal characteristics
included an assessment of self-confidence,
enthusiasm, effectiveness, and initiative. Each of
these characteristics is relevant to future performance and can be assessed during the interview, as
shown by past research (Fletcher 1990; Liden et
al. 1993; Riggio and Throckmorton 1988). Hence
these interpersonal characteristics are hypothesized to influence the overall rating of an
applicant and the ultimate hiring decision.
Figure 1: Portion of the interview process
Volume 6 Number 4
October 1998
Blackwell Publishers Ltd 1998
H1a: The interviewer's ratings of an applicant's

self-confidence, enthusiasm, effectiveness,
and initiative, will positively influence the
interviewer's overall rating of an applicant.
H1b: The interviewer's ratings of an applicant's
self-confidence, enthusiasm, effectiveness,
and initiative, will positively influence the
interviewer's recommendation to hire the
applicant.
Verbal Statements and Interpersonal Characteristics

There are a multitude of ways to examine the
verbal statements made by participants in the
interview. For example, a relational communication approach can be taken in which the
statements made are coded with respect to how
directive and controlling they are (Kacmar and
Hochwarter 1995; Tullar 1989). Another
approach that has been used to examine the
specific communication found in the interview is
through the study of impression management
tactics (Gilmore and Ferris 1989; Kacmar et al.
1992; Kristof and Stevens 1994). In these studies,
the use of impression management tactics by the
applicant was examined to determine what
influence it had on the interview outcomes.
While a great deal of progress has been made
by each of these approaches, there is still much
more to learn. By employing a new way of
examining the verbal statements made in the
interview, more about the interactive nature of
the interview can be learned. One approach that
has great promise in this area is the AttitudeBehavior framework identified by Popovich and
Wanous (1982).
Affective, Behavioral, and Cognitive (ABC) Verbal
Statements
During an examination of realistic job previews
on attitudes of newcomers, Popovich and
Wanous (1982) identified three observable
components of attitude in verbal statements.
These components are affect, cognition, and
behavioral intent (Cialdini, Petty and Cacioppo
1981; Fishbein and Ajzen 1972; Popovich and
Wanous 1982). An affective statement is defined
as a statement of preference, an expression of
like or dislike for something. Cognitive
statements are those statements indicating the
opinion of the speaker, knowledge, or facts
about a particular event or circumstance. Finally,
behavioral statements are those verbal statements
which indicate past action taken or future action
intended. Popovich and Wanous argued that
these different types of speech components can
affect attitudes. Further, the attitudes affected by
the verbal exchange are likely to influence
resulting outcome decisions. Similar to a realistic
213
job preview, the interview is a type of verbal

exchange. In the interview, different types of
verbal statements made by an applicant are likely
to influence the interviewer's attitude. Therefore,
affective, behavioral, and cognitive speech
components made by an applicant, which may
influence the interviewer's ratings of that
applicant, are the focus of this study.
Behavioral speech components. Behavioral speech
components convey intended actions to be taken
or report past behavior and its consequences.
Behavioral speech components include words of
past or intended action such as `. . . I will complete
my degree by this August' or `. . . I just finished a
project on developing an effective recycling system in
my company.' Because the interview is, in part, an
assessment of past actions and future effort,
behavioral speech components are the
applicant's best means of convincing the
interviewer of past achievements and the
likelihood of future success. Of the interpersonal
characteristics of interest in this study, both
effectiveness and initiative reflect some form of
achievement, either intended for the future or
completed in the past. Therefore, behavioral
intent is hypothesized to impact ratings of an
applicant's effectiveness and initiative.
H2a: Verbal statements comprised of behavioral
speech components will have a positive
influence on interviewer ratings of an
applicant's effectiveness.
H2b: Verbal statements comprised of behavioral
applicant's initiative.
Reporting past experiences or intended

actions in order to convey ambition or a drive
to succeed is likely to influence the interviewer's
perceptions of an applicant's self-confidence.
Completion of a goal or project carries a
connotation of confidence either through proof
that the applicant can achieve a goal or through
the applicant's belief that he or she is capable of
attaining a desired goal in the future. Because
behavioral statements are comprised of words
and phrases which rely on past or future actions
to be taken, it is hypothesized that these
behavioral statements will influence the
interviewer's assessment of an applicant's selfconfidence.
H2c: Verbal statements comprised of behavioral
applicant's self-confidence.
Cognitive speech components. The interview

setting is also a means of assessing whether or
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October 1998
214
not the job applicant possesses particular skills

and knowledge. An applicant can convey this
knowledge by answering questions clearly and
communicating facts and opinions appropriately.
Cognitive speech components include those
statements which clearly represent pertinent
facts and information such as `. . . I believe the
importance of developing interpersonal skills can't be
underestimated.' or `. . . I know COBOL and
FORTRAN programming languages.' In the speech
component analysis, conveying knowledge or
facts is defined as a cognitive component and is
hypothesized to influence an interviewer's
ratings of an applicant's effectiveness and selfconfidence.
H3a: Verbal statements comprised of cognitive
applicant's effectiveness.
H3b: Verbal statements comprised of cognitive
applicant's self-confidence.
Affective speech components. Finally, the interview

is also an interaction of the interviewer and
applicant where perceptions of an applicant's
disposition and likability play a role in the
formation of the interviewer's attitude toward
the applicant. Similar to impression management
tactics, there may be appropriate ranges of use
(Baron 1989) for each of these speech
components. The overuse of affective responses
during a job interview may not necessarily be
the most appropriate verbal behavior, but some
form of emotional expression may be influential.
Examples of affective speech components
include `. . . I really like answering phones at work'
or `. . . I really enjoyed our conversation, thanks a lot.'
Because the affective speech component is one
which expresses like or dislike and is an
emotional type of statement, it is hypothesized
that this type of speech component influences
interviewer ratings of enthusiasm, the most
emotional of all interpersonal characteristics
being tested. Therefore it is hypothesized that
H4:
Verbal statements comprised of affective

applicant's enthusiasm.
Method
Interviewers
A total of 20 interviewers from a large
petroleum company served as the interviewers
in the current study. Of the 20, 15 (75%) were
Caucasian, 2 (10%) were African American, and 3
Volume 6 Number 4
October 1998
(15%) were Hispanic. There were a total of 16

men (80%) and 4 women (20%), and the average
age for the sample was 35 years.
Applicants
There were 19 applicants who participated in the
interviews used in the present study. The gender
composition of the sample was split nearly in
half with 9 males (47%) and 10 (53%) females.
With respect to race, 10 (53%) were Caucasian, 7
(37%) were Hispanic, 1 (5%) was African
American, and 1 (5%) was Asian. The sample
had an average age of 24.37 years.
Procedure
The interviews employed in this study were
conducted as part of two different interviewer
training classes for a Fortune 500 company. Each
training class lasted 3 days and included a total
of 10 interviewers. The first day was entirely
classroom work where the structured interviewing technique used by the firm was taught.
The interview technique being trained was a
behavioral based approach to interviewing. The
goal of the interview was to determine whether
applicants possessed four key characteristics:
effectiveness, enthusiasm, initiative, and self
confidence. Without evidence of these qualities,
the company could not hire an applicant.
To determine if the applicants possessed these
qualities, interviewers asked behavioral interview
questions (e.g., Tell me about a time when you
had to get someone to do something for you. )
about a certain area of the applicants' past (e.g.,
extracurricular activities), and then probed for
specific details. As the applicants spoke, the
interviewers recorded segments of their answers
that illustrated that the candidate possessed the
qualities being sought. The interviewers were
taught eight different behavioral questions that
could be asked about any of the four areas of the
applicant's past. They were also taught ten
specific probes to use to focus the responses of
the applicants.
The second day of the training class focused
on the on-site interview format, which is used
when an applicant is brought to the company for
a full day of interviewing. During the afternoon
of the second day, up to 7 students, who were
seeking full-time employment, were recruited
from universities near the training facility. The
students were brought to the training location so
that the interviewers could perform an interview
with an actual applicant. The applicants were
told if they performed well in the interview, they
could be called back for an on-site interview.
To begin the interview segment of the
training program, the interviewers were taken
to a central room in which the resumes of the

applicants and job descriptions for the jobs the
applicants were applying for were available.
Interviewers selected a resume and job
description and were provided with 15 minutes
of preparation time. Applicants were seated in a
waiting area outside the preparation room.
When an interviewer was ready, they located
the candidate and escorted him or her to a
breakout interviewing room. When the
interview was completed, the applicant was
escorted back to the waiting room and could be
called again if needed. Given this format, an
applicant could have been interviewed by two
different interviewers.
The third day of training focused on the oncampus interview format with the afternoon
being reserved for a second set of interviews
with a different group of actual applicants. The
main purpose of the interviews was so that the
trainers could certify that the interviewers had
learned the interviewing procedures. However,
the interviews also resulted in several applicants
being scheduled for on-site interviews, and
eventually being hired.
Just prior to the interview, both a video
camera and an audiocassette recorder were
started to record the interview. At the
completion of the interview the equipment was
stopped and the interviewer was asked to rate
the applicant. Thirty-one of the taped interviews
were later transcribed and used in this study. Of
the 20 interviewers, 11 conducted 2 interviews
and 9 conducted 1 interview. Similarly, some of
the transcripts used in this study are based on
interviews with the same applicant. For example,
2 applicants completed 3 interviews, 8 applicants
completed 2 interviews, and 9 applicants completed 1 interview. Although the same applicants
and interviewers were used in some of the 31
interviews, none of the transcripts analyzed in
this study used the same interview-applicant
dyad. Further, while interviewers and applicants
are described as the sample, the verbal
statements uttered by the applicants are the
focus of this study.
Variables
Dependent measures. The interviewers provided a
total of 6 dependent variables. First, interviewers
rated each applicant on the presence or absence
of four interpersonal characteristics: effectiveness, initiative, enthusiasm, and self confidence.
In addition, each interviewer indicated whether
the applicant was suitable for hiring. This was a
hire/no hire decision. Finally, interviewers rated
the applicant overall. The anchors for this scale
were `outstanding' for 1 and `not acceptable' for
5.
215
Independent variables. The independent variables

used in this study were the affective, behavioral,
and cognitive speech components present in a
randomly selected portion of the applicants'
responses. These variables were created by
content analyzing transcripts from the
interviews.
Content Analysis
The first step taken to examine the interviews
was to code the affective, behavioral, and
cognitive components in the responses made
by each applicant. A single coder coded each
statement made by an applicant in each of the 31
interviews as one of three categories (affective,
behavioral, and cognitive) or none of the above.
The `none of the above' category included
repeated phrases and nonsensical utterances such
as uh or umm. From each of these 31 interviews,
20 verbal statements made by the applicant were
randomly selected for analysis. The random
selection of verbal statements increased the
chances of measuring verbal exchanges of
different phrases of each interview session to
abate the influence of the structured interview.
However, it should be noted that any series of
statements in which the interviewer and
applicant were simply clarifying spelling of a
name or verifying the digits in a social security
number, for example, were eliminated from the
analysis. Thus, an average of 67.6 useable
statements per interview remained and the 20
statements per interview analyzed for this study
represents an average of 30% of all useable
statements made during the entire interview.
For the purpose of this study, a verbal
statement is defined as a single expression or
thought. The transcripts reflect the free
expression of an applicant in response to an
interviewer's question; therefore, a full and
grammatically complete sentence neatly
expressing an idea is rarely found. Defining a
verbal statement as an expression of a single
thought or idea provides a means of categorizing
the attitudinal content of each thought presented
in the interview. An applicant will often convey
several different pieces of information at once
and each piece of information carries with it a
different attitudinal meaning. Because the focus
of the study is the effect of the attitudinal speech
components on interviewer attitudes, verbal
statements, rather than full sentences or entire
responses, are the unit of analysis.
For each of the 20 verbal statements, the
attitudinal components were counted and an
affective, behavioral, and cognitive score was
assigned to each statement. A sample of a
portion of a coded interview is presented in the
Appendix. To assess the reliability of the coding,
a second coder was used. A second coder coded
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216
ten of the 31 interviews, which were randomly

selected. Interrater agreement for each of the
speech component types was acceptable with
71% for behavioral, 70% for cognitive, 84% for
affective, and 72% for none of the above.
variables. As can be seen in the table, the

independent variables are not related to one
another or to the dependent variables with the
exception of self confidence. Interestingly, the
overall rating is not related to the hiring decision,
but the individual characteristics are related.
Statistical Analyses
Regression Results
Regression analysis was used to analyze the

variables. Each dependent variable was run as a
separate equation with all three independent
variable being entered at once.
Results for the regression equations that were

run are presented in Table 2a2h. The regression
equation run to test hypothesis 1a, that the
interpersonal characteristics would influence the
overall quality rating of an applicant, was
significant (F (1,617) = 20.24, p 0:001 and
the specific interpersonal characteristics of
enthusiasm and effectiveness had significant tstatistics. The overall equation run to test
hypothesis 1b, that the interpersonal
characteristics would influence the hiring
decision, was also significant (F (1,617) =
65.90, p < 0.001). Self-confidence and effectiveness both had significant t-statistics. Results from
these analyses provide support for the influence
of interpersonal characteristics on an
interviewer's rating of an applicant's overall
The regression equation performed to test
hypothesis 2a, that behavioral speech
components would impact interviewer ratings
of an applicant's effectiveness, was not
significant (F (1,617) = 1.71, ns). Likewise, the
equation to test hypothesis 2b, behavioral
speech components in relation to ratings of an
applicant's initiative, was not significant
(F (1,617) = 0.793, ns). The test for hypothesis
2c however was significant (F (1,617) = 5.16,
p<0.05). Thus, support was found for the
influence of behavioral speech components on
an interviewer's ratings of an applicant's selfconfidence.
The regression equation run to test hypothesis 3a was not significant (F (1,617) = 3.45,
Results
Initial Analyses
To empirically examine whether common
method variance was a problem in the current
study, we performed a Harman one factor test
on our data (Podsakoff and Organ, 1986). This
analysis places all of the scales in one
exploratory factor analysis. If common method
variance is a severe problem and is responsible
for the significant findings, only one factor will
emerge or the first factor will explain a
significant portion of the variance. Our analyses
revealed 3 factors with eigenvalues greater than
1.00. The first factor explained only 33% of the
variance. In addition, not all of the dependent
measures collected from the interviewers loaded
on the same factor. Finally, our independent and
dependent variables were generated from two
different sources. All of this evidence provides
support for the notion that common method
variance is not a significant problem in the
current study.
Correlational Results
A correlation matrix of the variables of interest is
presented in Table 1. Table 1 also includes the
means and standard deviations for these
Table 1: Intercorrelations, means, and standard deviations for the variables of interest
Mean SD
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Affect
Behavioral
Cognitive
Hireability
Overall rating
Effectiveness
Initiative
Enthusiasm
Self-confidence
0.142
0.305
0.966
1.64
2.89
1.88
1.82
1.89
1.88
0.40
0.68
0.70
0.48
0.97
0.32
0.39
0.31
0.32
0.043
0.018
0.015
0.073
0.011
0.041
0.022
0.056
0.065
0.021 0.012
0.004 0.092 0.047
0.053 0.075 0.528*** 0.049
0.036 0.037 0.351*** 0.037 0.670***

0.086 0.006 0.256*** 0.230*** 0.633*** 0.621***
0.091 0.101* 0.170*** 0.086* 0.539*** 0.516*** 0.628***
Note: * = p < 0.05. *** = p < 0.001.
Volume 6 Number 4
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217
Table 2a: Dependent variable = hire decision

IV
Effectiveness
Initiative
Self-confidence
Enthusiasm
0.115 12.34
0.026 0.518
0.138
0.138
0.010
1.45
Table 2b: Dependent variable = overall rating

p
0.000
0.605
0.002
0.147
IV
Effectiveness
Initiative
Self-confidence
Enthusiasm
B
0.316
0.010
0.020
0.448
5.49
0.181
0.393
7.95
0.000
0.875
0.694
0.000
Note: R2 = 0.30, F (1,617) = 65.90, p < 0.001
Note: R2 = 0.117, F (1,617) = 20.24, p < 0.001
Table 2c: Dependent variable = effectiveness
Table 2d: Dependent variable = initiative
IV
Behavioral
B
0.052
1.307 0.192
IV
Behavioral
B
0.036
0.891 0.373
Note: R2 = 0.003, F (1,617) = 1.71, ns
Note: R2 = 0.008, F (1,617) = 5.16, p < 0.05
Table 2e: Dependent variable = self-confidence
Table 2f: Dependent variable = effectiveness
IV
Behavioral
B
0.091
t
2.72
p
0.023
IV
Cognitive
B
0.075
1.86
0.064
Note: R2 = 0.001, F (1,617) = 0.793, ns
Note: R2 = 0.005, F (1,617) = 3.45, ns
Table 2g: Dependent variable = self-confidence
Table 2h: Dependent variable = enthusiasm
IV
Cognitive
B
0.101
t
2.53
p
0.012
IV
Affect
B
0.022
0.544 0.587
Note: R2 = 0.010, F (1,617) = 6.38, p, 0.05
Note: R2 = 0.005, F (1,617) = 0.295, ns
ns) indicating that cognitive types of speech do

not have a significant amount of influence on an
interviewer's ratings of an applicant's
effectiveness. However, the equation run to test
hypothesis 3b was significant (F (1,617) = 6.38,
p<0.05) providing support for the influence of
cognitive speech components on interviewer
ratings of an applicant's self-confidence. The test
of the last hypothesis, hypothesis 4, which
examined affective speech components in
relation to interviewer ratings of an applicant's
enthusiasm,
was
not
significant
(F (1,617) = 0.295, ns).
applicant's overall quality and the ultimate hiring

decision, but initiative was not influential. That
three out of four of the interpersonal
characteristics were found to have significant
influence on interviewer ratings is particularly
important in this study because these
interpersonal characteristics were further
operationalized by verbal behaviors exhibited
by the applicant during the interview. That is,
the verbal statements made by applicants were
coded as affective (expressing like or dislike),
behavioral (an indication of action), and
cognitive (expressing facts or knowledge). Each
of these types of statements were then predicted
to directly influence the ratings interviewers
made about applicants' interpersonal characteristics. Once again, mixed support was found
for the predictions.
With respect to the behavioral speech
components, only the interviewer's ratings of
an applicant's self-confidence were found to be
significant. Given that the behavioral speech
component communicates not only past action,
Discussion
Results from the regression analysis performed
in this study are mixed. For example, results for
hypotheses 1a and 1b show that the
interpersonal characteristics of effectiveness,
enthusiasm, and self-confidence were indeed
influential in the interviewer's rating of an
Volume 6
Number 4
October 1998
218
but intended action as well, it is somewhat

surprising that it did not show a significant
influence on interviewer ratings of an applicant's
effectiveness or initiative as predicted. The lack
of significant findings in this area is especially
troublesome since providing descriptions and
evidence of past behavior and accomplishments
is an effective form of self-enhancing
communication (Fletcher 1990). It may be that
the context of these interviews lowered the
expectations of interviewers. All the applicants
were in college and perhaps a great deal of
experiences or examples of past behaviors were
not expected. Likewise, the interviewers were in
training, and therefore, may not have been
skilled at pinpointing specific examples or
pushing the applicants to provide evidence of
past experiences. Finally, the use of structured
interviews in this study could have hampered
any probing necessary to elicit clear descriptions
of past experiences or intended action as the
interview questions to be asked and the order in
which they were to be asked were provided to
the interviewers.
Support for hypothesis 3b, that cognitive
speech components influence the interviewer's
rating of an applicant's self-confidence, provides
evidence that expressing knowledge or opinions
can influence interviewer ratings. It makes sense
that the cognitive speech component influences
perceptions of an applicant's self-confidence;
however, it is surprising that cognitive components do not influence interviewer
assessments of an applicant's effectiveness.
Perhaps the simple expression of knowledge or
facts is not influential in this type of interview
setting where interviewers are not necessarily
experts in topical areas of specific interest to the
job position being filled. The subjects were
mostly engineering and computer science majors
while the interviewers being trained were from
all areas of the company and did not necessarily
hold such technical positions.
Finally, the affective speech component was
hypothesized to influence interviewer ratings of
an applicant's enthusiasm. The affective
components, measured by expressions of like
or dislike for something, seemed to be most
closely related to the dependent variable
enthusiasm; however, the findings of this research
did not support the hypothesis. The lack of
support for this hypothesis may be explained in
at least two ways. First these results might
provide some evidence that these types of
statements do not carry much weight in the
interview process. Second, while the types of
statements being examined are appropriate,
perhaps more meaningful definitions or measures
must be developed. Therefore, future research
needs to examine these and other types of
statements to locate other more fruitful avenues
Volume 6 Number 4
October 1998
for research. Only additional research in this area

will be able to determine which explanation, if
either, is the most appropriate for these findings.
The significant findings from this study
support existing research on the influence of
verbal behavior on interviewer evaluations of
the applicant (Gilmore and Ferris 1989; Riggio
and Throckmorton 1988; Tullar 1989). For
example, like the present study, Gilmore and
Ferris examined self-enhancing communications
and found support for the influence of these
communication tactics on interviewer ratings. In
fact, in their study of impression management
tactics and interviewer judgements, Gilmore and
Ferris found that an applicant's use of impression
management strategies, which included selfenhancing communication, influenced interviewer assessments regardless of applicant
credentials. Their results may indicate, as ours
did, that the self-enhancing communication
behaviors helped to create positive applicant
credentials of a subjective versus objective
nature. If this is indeed true, raters did not have
to rely on the more objective credentials that
were available, as they created their own
subjective credentials to judge the applicants.
In much of the interview literature, whether
on verbal behavior or other issues pertinent to
the interview, researchers often note that the
interview is a setting where an applicant and
interviewer come together and interact to assess
one another (Kacmar et al. 1992; Liden et al.
1993; Rynes and Gerhart 1990). The applicant, in
particular, is attempting to present the best
image of skills and compatibility with the
organization and position as possible (Fletcher
1990). Furthermore, verbal behavior within this
interview setting has been shown to be an
effective means of influencing interviewer
ratings (Rassmussen 1984).
The present study extends existing research
by providing evidence that some types of verbal
statements, cognitive and behavioral statements
in particular, influence interviewer ratings of an
applicant's self-confidence. This has two
important implications. First, if these types of
verbal statements are influential, then applicants
can be trained to make more effective verbal
presentations during interviews. The applicant
may be more persuasive during the interview
and will present skills and abilities effectively
and clearly. Second, the influence of verbal
statements on interviewer ratings of
interpersonal characteristics clearly shows that
interviewers must be made aware that the types
of verbal statements made by an applicant as
well as the content of the verbal statements
influence overall impressions of an applicant.
Overall, an awareness of the influence of verbal
behavior makes the interview a more precise
selection tool.
Perhaps some of the lack of findings in this

study are due to the definition of the speech
components themselves. Because there is no
existing method to code attitudinal components
embedded in speech components, we devised a
coding scheme which allows for identification of
attitudinal components taking place during the
interview. The categories used in this content
analysis comprise the first attempt at identifying
and analyzing the affective, behavioral, and
cognitive aspects of verbal behavior in
interviews. While much has been learned from
this study, perhaps these categories should be
expanded in future research activities.
It may be that speech components should be
viewed as multi-dimensional in that, along with
each category or type of speech component (i.e.
affective, behavioral, or cognitive), there are
specific sub-elements which must be considered.
A multi-dimensional view of speech components
would allow a richer analysis of verbal behavior
in the interview. Additional elements to consider
beside type, for example, are the context and
content of speech components. For example,
assessing the appropriateness of the component
given the context of an interview may be a
relevant factor. Along with context, the content
of the component should be assessed in future
studies. Specifically, the extent to which a speech
component addresses an interviewer's question
should be measured. In future research, this three
dimensional view, so to speak, of type, context,
and content of speech components might be
more effective in uncovering the extent to
which verbal behavior influences interviewer
ratings and explains interviewer-interviewee
interactions.
One of the limitations of this study may be
the nature of the interview setting as a training
environment. However, even though these
interviews took place as part of interviewer
training, they involved very real job applicants.
The applicants were from a nearby college and
were all near graduation. The applicants were
majors in disciplines pertinent to the company
and, if found qualified, were recommended for a
second interview. So although the interview
setting was that of a training session for
interviewers, the interview process, applicants,
and questions, albeit structured, were all very
realistic and relevant.
A second limitation may be using only one
organization. Because of the nature of this study,
entire interview sessions from one organization
were taped and transcribed. Cost and time
involved in conducting actual interviews
prohibits enlisting multiple organizations or a
large number of interviewers and applicants.
Finally, the number of interviews used in the
present study (N = 31) may seem small.
219
However, it is very comparable to previous

interview research that examined the interview
as a communication event (Kristof and Stevens
1994 N = 25; Liden et al. 1993 N = 36; Tullar
1989 N = 28). Further, it must be remembered
that the unit of analysis was the statements
made, not the number of interviews.
Tullar (1989) claimed that a better
understanding of the interview process can only
be achieved by examining all components of the
interview including verbal statements. The
contribution of this research is a better
understanding of the influence of specific verbal
statements on interview ratings. The findings of
this research show the significant influence of
behavioral and cognitive speech components on
interviewer ratings of an applicant's selfconfidence. Since these types of speech
components can be analyzed, they can be used
to teach interviewers and applicants more
effective verbal behavior in interviews. Instructing job applicants on the different types of
verbal statements reinforced with role-playing
may prove effective in enhancing an applicant's
self-presentation skills.
This research is an initial attempt at analyzing
the specific types of speech components and the
relative influence of these components on interviewer ratings. Analyzing the specific speech
components uttered during the interview brings
this analysis to an observable, measurable level
which can greatly contribute to overall
knowledge of the interview process. While other
researchers have examined verbal behavior
(Bradac and Mulac 1984; Harris 1989; Ralston,
1989; Riggio and Throckmorton 1988; Tullar
1989), this is the first study that broke down the
verbal statements into component parts and
analyzed the attitudinal types of speech. Again,
we want to emphasize the somewhat
exploratory nature of this study, in that we are
attempting to devise a method of coding verbal
behavior in interviews as well as precisely
identify the influence of attitudinal speech
components on interviewer ratings of applicants.
Future research should continue to examine
the interview as a dyadic experience and
investigate the interaction of the interviewer
with the applicant. Similar analysis of verbal
components across different organizations and
interview settings would be extremely valuable.
The comparison of speech components used by
applicants in a non-structured interview are
likely to differ from those components used by
our sample. Attempting to isolate specific
elements of speech is only one of many different
approaches to studying the interview process;
however, the findings presented here offer some
new information to the existing body of
knowledge on verbal behavior in the interview.
Volume 6
Number 4
October 1998
220
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Appendix
Examples of verbal statements from selected interview
transcripts
Hi. My name is XXXXX. I am the design
supervisor ummm design engineering supervisor
at the XXXX plant for XXXX in XXXX. And it is
good to have you here today ah (I)
Well its great to be here (A)
Affect
OK lets me settle down a little bit and get my
pencil working I herniated a disk in my neck I
guess right after you left some how my index
finger is numb and I'm having a little bit of
trouble writing. How is school going? (I)
So far so good. I guess only two days (A)
Cognitive
Got the courses that you where looking for and
(I)
After a lot of hard work I got the courses (A)
Behavioral
221
You had some outside chemical engineering or

whatever you had to (I)
Chemistry class which was the biggest problem (A)
Cognitive
over with. Ahh As far as work experience goes,
what's what have you found ahh that's meant
something to you (I)
Well, I can tell you about my last project at
xxxxxxxxxxxx, that I (A)
Cognitive
Other
worked on. Which was the last employment. Umm It
was. I had stumbled upon it when I was doing one of
my other projects. And I had to work with the
financial group. (A)
Behavioral
Behavioral
I was investigating the power consumed by one of the
units. (A)
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Number 4
October 1998

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